


Five Minutes

by Blink23



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 06:42:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11374710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blink23/pseuds/Blink23
Summary: George decides to save the good looking kid at the bar from his ex-colleague by pretending they’re involved. He gets more than he bargained for once he finds out they were exes.





	Five Minutes

It’s not the type of bar he’d usually find himself in – too young, too try hard – but he had asked Alex if he knew where he could get a good drink in New Haven since he rarely came this way and this is what had been suggested. He wasn’t wrong when it came to the liquor, not by a long shot, but the squinting thanks to the dim Edison bulbs and the loud conversation coming from a group of young women at the table behind him are enough to have George feeling a headache blooming behind his eyes in no time.

Thankfully the young man next to him is quiet. He had smiled politely at him when he asked if his seat was taken, and they had conversed briefly when he had brought out a several thousand paged book on Yugoslavia (“Normally not bar reading, but it’s for a class, it is pretty quiet tonight and I can't handle being in the library anymore”) and he had listened with wide (and incredibly pretty, Christ) eyes as George talked about his time in the area with the Army. He had gone quiet after that, probably in an attempt to not pester George, and returned to his book and beer.

The boy is beautiful, but the last thing George wants is to be is the old man at the bar hitting on a someone who was probably still in diapers when he was pre-law.

Henry calls him just after he gets his second drink. The kid – Ben, he thinks, he had introduced himself when he sat down – nods with a smile when he gestures to it and to his phone with a mumbled 'Can you...?,' silently agreeing to watch his things.

George leaves through the back door to the patio, ignoring the hipsters smoking hand rolled cigarettes as he answers questions about the meetings he was in. It’s just a quick, ten minute conversation, enough to get Henry off his back, before he’s pushing his way back inside and away from the smokers.

Ben’s getting chatted up by a man now, turned away from George’s chair, and his step falters when he realizes it’s Arnold who’s looming over him.

Of all the places, and of all the people he could be talking to, Benedict stands next to Ben, shoulders squared and calculating look on his face. He looks at ease while Ben looks uncomfortable, frowning with his arms tight across his chest. Despite all of this, Benedict doesn’t seem to be a stranger, he seems like an annoyance, and he approaches calmly.

“It’s not any of your concern anymore-”

“Why,” George realizes Benedict sounds jealous and a little desperate, “Are you here to meet someone?”

“Actually,” George interrupts, his hand falling to the inside of Benjamin’s thigh, giving him a squeeze as he slides into his seat, “He’s here with me.”

“George?” Arnold's eyes go wide, clearly shocked, “I – it’s nice to see you.”

“Of course,” George says, dryly, but doesn’t echo his sentiment. If Ben is surprised he doesn’t show it, instead just rests his hand on George’s arm.

“I didn’t know you two were acquainted,” Arnold stammers, “Or your… tastes…. skewed so young, George. I suppose I should haver figured, what with you hiring Hamilton and Lafayette so easily.” 

George’s grip on Ben’s thigh tightens. Ben seems to detect the conflict, and let’s his hand drop down on top of George’s, lacing their fingers together.

“To be fair to George, I’d say it’s more my tastes skew to him than anything,” He smiles, looking absolutely besotted, “It took me a few weeks to convince him a date was a good idea.”

“Really...” Arnold raises and eyebrow at that, “and when was that?”

“We met in September, so sometime around mid-October,” George says, risking it. Judging from the way Benedict's eyes widen and Ben looks amused he chose correctly, “Though it didn’t take very long for me to realize Benjamin was right and I was begging him to come spend Thanksgiving with me at Mount Vernon. I haven’t been able to leave him alone after that week.”

"And it's something I am more than fine with, you know that. " 

George shrugs, trying for playful, "Sometimes a man just likes to be reminded." 

"If every time I saw you was like that week, your ego wouldn't fit into this bar thanks to being reminded over and over how much I enjoy you being around." 

Benedict goes pale. George knows it's not just the thought that they see each other regularly, but also the timing of it all. Benedict spent November trying to convince the courts that he shouldn’t be disbarred, and thrown in Jail. At the same time, George was on a week long sex romp at his family estate with a man Benedict was trying desperately to convince come back to him.

“Yes, of course. I should be getting back, I just wanted to say hello.”

They both watch him scurry away, back to his friends. When Benedict was a safe distance George turned to Ben, his eyebrows raised.

“Are you sure you don’t major in Drama? I hear Yale’s program is excellent.”

Ben grins, turning his stool fully so his back is to Benedict’s group of friends, batting his lashes, “American Studies MA. That was all my high school’s production of Romeo and Juliet.”

“I’m sure you were fantastic.”

“I was the best Romeo Long Island had ever seen, I assure you,” Ben agrees, “Also, Mount Vernon? Your house has a name?”

George feels his cheeks go a little pink, as he often did as a kid when he was reminded of the family's wealth. “It’s the family estate,” He explains, “in Virginia, not that far from the district. It’s an old tobacco plantation that’s been in the family for longer than the country’s existed. I figured he’d understand I’d take you back home to a big empty house for a week for one reason only.”

“I mean, it’s me, so really two,” Ben laughs, “I’m sure I would’ve found the history of the building just as mind blowing as the filthy imaginary sex we’re having.” 

“I’m sure.” George says, amused.

“Is he still watching?”

George glances up has a full view of Benedict studying them with narrowed eyes, ignoring the pack of men that surround him.

“Like a hawk.”

“Then I’m just going to hold on to this,” He squeezes George’s hand, settling them both higher on his thigh, “And buy you a drink while thanking you profusely for doing that. You didn't have to, but maybe he'll get the hint now.”

George waves him off, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to seem petty, but we’re not very… fond of each other, the pleasure is all mine.”

“I suppose you work with him in New York?”

“Worked,” George corrects, reaching for his drink, “Business law can bring out the worst in some people, and he was one of them. It’s… honestly, it’s a complicated story, and I doubt anyone outside of a 2L would understand the jargon-”

“It’s fine,” Ben insists, unlacing their fingers so he could reach for his book. George left his hand casually on his knee, glancing in Benedict's direction to see him still staring and refusing to let go. Ben dropped the book in his bag before righting himself, his fingertips gently running up and down his forearm.

“Is that why you’re here?”

George makes a noise of agreement around a mouthful of his drink, “Yes. I work and live out of New York, though I’m licensed in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Some of our New York interests have new business here and I came to be briefed.”

“I figured the New York bit. That’s where I met him; I was doing an internship last summer when we met.”

George brushes Ben’s hair behind one ear, amused by the glare he received from across the room, “I can’t say I understand what someone like you would want to waste a summer on him.”

Ben shrugs, “He’s charming when he wants to be. Also... this sounds horrible, but one of my best friend’s had just died – car accident, just some freak thing, you know – and I wasn’t really in a good place. It was the whole reason I went to New York instead of staying here, actually. We had always sort of… flirted with the idea of something happening between us, so I was left with a lot of what-ifs, and it wasn’t pleasant. Being pursued felt good and kept my mind off Nate, and then being spoiled and worshiped by this handsome older man felt better. I figured I was in the city for the summer, and could use it.”

“And then…?”

“Things got weird. I always felt like I was being talked down to, and there was always this sense of him just thinking I was there for his amusement. Like any feelings or thoughts I had didn’t matter. I needed to be at his beck and call, but if I didn’t know where he was for a few days, that was fine, you know, stuff like that. Plus, I had always viewed it as a summer thing, you know? Just a one off the occupy my nights with. I started to understand towards the end that he didn't feel that way and was set on keeping me. It just… I started to feel trapped, and then I knew I had to end it. When I did he fought pretty hard to get me back. It was honestly embarrassing and kind of creepy, and really stressed he didn’t respect boundaries,” Ben winced, playing with George’s fingers, “It just dropped off to only when he's drunk or horny after a few weeks, thankfully, but still. Getting calls all hours of the night with him begging isn’t a thing I enjoy.”

“When was this?”

“Mid-August. I stopped speaking to him by the end of September, but he refused to take a hint. It's why he looked like he swallowed his tongue when you said we’d met then.”

“Ah,” George grimaces, “September was around the time charges were brought against him. Probably just added insult to have you reject him like that.”

Ben goes quiet, their fingers still laced. He looks contemplative, like George’s explanation is snapping otherwise unrelated facts into place. 

In the midst of their conversation, they’ve managed to shuffle closer to each other on their stools, the knee their hands are resting on shifting so it’s in between both of George’s. George watches as he draws circles on the back of his hand with his fingers distractedly, clearly comfortable with the intimacy. 

It shouldn’t feel as easy as it is. They should feel uncomfortable by how easy they fall into acting like a couple of over-affectionate teenagers for show. The few serious relationships George has had were never this way, even after months of dating.

Benedict hasn’t stopped staring.

“Do you think he’d stop if I kissed you?” He murmurs, gently stroking Ben’s cheek with the back of his fingers. His eyes widen, impossibly bright in the bar's low lighting. George’s mouth goes a little dry as he drinks him in.

“I don’t know, but I know I’m more than happy to find out.”

He presses his mouth the Ben's, not needing to be told twice. It’s so incredibly gentle, just their lips moving against one another softly for a few moments. George nips at Ben’s bottom lip and feels him smile, soothing it with a swipe of his tongue.

George pulls back and Ben chases his lips with his eyes closed, cracking them open when George’s hand finds his chest. The group of men Benedict was with are still there, but he’s conspicuously absent.

“He’s gone.” 

“Hm,” is all Ben says, pulling George back in for another kiss that he reciprocates without a second thought, this one deeper, slightly more filthy. He cups the back Ben's head, his fingers tangling in his hair as their mouths open against one another, Ben's little whimper warming his chest. 

“Typical, the only good ones here tonight are gay, and basically married to each other.”

The loud voice of one of the women behind them breaks though the haze and George pulls away with a startled sort of sound from his throat. It quickly dawns on him that he’s making out with a young man in a bar, completely ignoring how questionable that is. Ben presses his face to George’s neck and straight up giggles into his skin, clearly amused by his reaction.

“Okay, so. My place might not be a plantation estate, but it is only a few blocks from here, and decidedly more private since I don’t have a roommate, if you’re up for it.”

He absolutely is.


End file.
